Help unleash the potential of Maori students

Media Release

Help unleash the potential of Maori students

The potential for Maori achievement has never been better, says a leading educationist academic Professor Mason Durie.

And the Massey University deputy vice-chancellor is urging school trustees to use the “real power” that they possess to turn the potential into reality.

He is speaking at the New Zealand School Trustees Association annual conference – School governance: creating our kids’ future today – which is being held in Wellington this weekend. Professor Durie is Massey University deputy vice-chancellor and Professor of Maori Research and Development. He is also the chair of the Secondary Futures Guardians.

Professor Durie says the potential for Maori students has never been higher, citing an increasing number of Maori students in non-compulsory education such as early childhood and tertiary educations.

“We are seeing the evidence through pockets of brilliance all around the country.

“The numbers in non-compulsory education are good measures of progress. If you couple that with what you hear about brilliant athletes coming through and academic successes, in the last 20 years we have really seen a transformation.”

He says part of the solution is for everyone to recognise that under-achievement is an untenable situation in any school, along with moving away from assigning blame.

“The job for trustees is to develop a strategy at each school to address the problem, rather than doing what we have tended to do and assign the blame somewhere. It is not a matter of blame. In the end what I think trustees can do which probably no one else can do, is help achieve the best possible outcomes for Maori learners.”

One of the driving forces of increasing potential is a growing population coupled with parents and young people who are no longer satisfied with a mediocre performance, he says

“There can be resignation – a feeling of what else can you expect? But I think that parents by and large expect that their kids will do well.”

Professor Durie says Secondary Futures has identified a number of key factors that will contribute to “uniform success” of Maori. This includes a recognition that students all learn differently and the importance of offering choice in learning sites, along with different modes of learning, such as online.

“Students should be at the centre of the learning experience. This doesn’t always happen and often we put the institutional needs at the centre of the learning experience.”

Other factors include teachers who inspire their students, the recognition of the place of technology in modern education, an understanding that communities are connected to learning and communities and schools need to have a close alliance if kids are going to do well, he says.

Professor Durie is running his workshop – Maori Student Achievement – on Friday July 6.

ENDS

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